URSINUS, Fulvius, an eminent Italian scholar, was born at Rome in 1529. He was the natural son of a scion of the noble house of Orsini, who, after educating him with great care, ultimately cast him off, together with his mother, in consequence of some foolish quarrel which time could not heal. The unfortunate mother was compelled to support herself and her child by begging; and her only consolation during long years of hardship and suffering was in the thought to which the growing genius of the youthful Ursinus gave life, that in future years he should become a man of fame, and that he should smooth the dying pillow of his aged mother. All this he realized to the full. First of all, he was appointed "clerics" in the church of St John in the Lateran; afterwards his industry and talents, combined with his amiable disposition, drew upon him the attachment of Canon Gentilio Delfini, who educated him thoroughly, and Ursinus subsequently became his successor. He was afterwards appointed librarian to two successive cardinals, and had ample leisure and abundant means to gratify his taste in the search after manuscripts and the purchase of articles for his archaeological museum. At his death, which occurred at Rome in 1600, he forgot none of his benefactors.

Among his works are commentaries on various ancient authors, and original treatises on antiquarian subjects. Of the latter class are his Familiae Romanae, 1663; and his Imagines et Elogia Virorum illustrium, 1606. Castalio published a life of Ursinus in 1657.

URSINUS, Zacharias, a German divine of considerable note, was born at Breslau on the 18th of July 1534. He studied at Wittenberg, where the friendship of Melanchthon was drawn out towards him by his zeal and industry. Having attended the conference of Worms with Melanchthon, he subsequently went to Geneva, and afterwards to Paris, where he studied the Hebrew language under Mercier. He was appointed rector of the Gymnasium Elisabethanum at Breslau in 1558; but the theological animosity of the Lutheran divines compelled him to retire to Zurich in 1560. Being chosen professor in the Collegium Sapientiae at Heidelberg, he was soon after made doctor of divinity, and received an order from the Elector-Palatine, Frederick III., to draw up the Heidelberg Catechism. This small work, which was subsequently received by the German Calvinists as the exposition of their creed, was fiercely attacked by Lutherans, and keenly defended by Ursinus. The Elector died in 1577, and as his successor could only tolerate Lutherans, Ursinus was obliged to quit Heidelberg in 1578. He soon received a professorship at Neustadt, where he taught with much acceptance until his death, which occurred in 1583. His Opera was published in 1587-89; but a more complete edition was published by his son, and his former pupils, David Pareus, and Quirinus Reuterus, 3 vols., 1612.